Re: "Countrified": good thing or bad?

[mint]

Didn't realise what a country bumpkin I'd become until I was getting ready to go out this evening.  Not knowing the "form" and sort of guessing it is "smart casual", I looked around for something to wear.

I have NOTHING to wear!  Yes, yes, I know you think all women say that but not this one, at least not normally.

After some digging around, I found some cheapo stretch black trousers so I thought, well, no one would know they were £10 at Peacocks or wherever it was I bought them for wearing in the gym.  Le noir va avec tout, as the French say.

Now for a top....weather's turned iffy and it's blowing a gale.  Hooray, here is that pale blue wool jumper that goes well over the hips and was a hand-me-down from a friend who moved back to the UK. 

So, that's top and bottom sorted.  Now, so as not to be cold and to cover up the bum, I thought I'd better have a cardie of some sort (being Brit, a cardie rather than a jacket is OK, don't you think?)  Found a nice long one, won't be cold then.

But here's the make-up bit....help!  I have no item of make-up that has been bought more recently than at least 4 years ago (I'm counting that we have been living here for 3 years).  Felt strange to wear the whole works:  foundation, powder, eye-liner, blusher, etc. etc.  I did baulk at the pillar-box red lipsticks that I used to wear but, fortunately, found a sort of muted pinkish one.

But what about jewellery?  Oops best go find the wedding and engagement rings then, if only I  could remember where I'd put them.  Took me nearly half an hour to find them but, in my search, I also found a bracelet, a necklace and some earrings.  So now, no one can say I am knowingly underdressed!

What a performance............but what truly stupefies me is remembering that I used to dress like that every single day for work!  Not only that, I wouldn't walk round to the corner shop for the papers without at least putting on some lippy and combing my hair.

As for my hair...........best not go there, you don't really want me to describe it, do you?

Anyone can identify with all this palaver and how living in the French countryside makes you completely oblivious to what a frightful sight you must appear to others?[:D]

[Judith]

Sweet,

I gave up wearing makeup, other than the occasional eye shadow and lipstick for "special" events, long ago, whilst I was still working. I make sure my hair is cut well enough so that it works after one brush in the morning (it's short) but what I have noticed is that I wear trousers much more here than I did in London, whereas I would wear skirts as much as possible when working.

I think it is to do with the temperature here - it is either much colder (hence trousers) or hotter - hence shorts rather than skirts.  I do like to wear dresses, as I've put on rather more weight than I would like around the bottom end, so skirts don't fit so well now.

But I do find, even when it is a more "dressy" do, that French dressy is nothing like as dressy as English dressy .... a my smart and pretty dresses seem wrong here, and when I smarten up a bit, I still don't match the casual smart of the French ... tant pis - I've decided to wear what I like and am comfortable in and tough luck if not right!

But I am certainly less "smart, - but hey - I'm retired ......

[Swissie]

Same here Judith. If they have a problem with it, tough! 

Hope Sweet is having a good time.

[Kitty]

I can't be doing with mascara these days.  It hurts my eyelashes.  Mind you, I pick at them once I have got back home.  That's the waterproof sort that is difficult to get off.  If I try to get it off with make up remover, I have the stinging in my eyes.  Yuk.  And then the non-waterproof stuff - I forget if I wear it and of course rub my eyes and no one tells me that I look like a Chinese panda.

Au naturel maintenant...  Or just a bit of red lippy.  Applied with one of those things that has a mirror attached and so can be done in situ - at a cafe table [;-)] , in the car at traffic lights  [:D]  etc.

[Weedon]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Didn't realise what a country bumpkin I'd become until I was getting ready to go out this evening.  Not knowing the "form" and sort of guessing it is "smart casual", I looked around for something to wear.

I have NOTHING to wear! 

After some digging around, I found some cheapo stretch black trousers so I thought, well, no one would know they were £10 at Peacocks or wherever it was I bought them for wearing in the gym.  Le noir va avec tout, as the French say.

Now for a top....weather's turned iffy and it's blowing a gale.  Hooray, here is that pale blue wool jumper that goes well over the hips and was a hand-me-down from a friend who moved back to the UK. 

So, that's top and bottom sorted.  Now, so as not to be cold and to cover up the bum, I thought I'd better have a cardie of some sort (being Brit, a cardie rather than a jacket is OK, don't you think?)  Found a nice long one, won't be cold then.

But here's the make-up bit....help!  I have no item of make-up that has been bought more recently than at least 4 years ago (I'm counting that we have been living here for 3 years).  Felt strange to wear the whole works:  foundation, powder, eye-liner, blusher, etc. etc.  I did baulk at the pillar-box red lipsticks that I used to wear but, fortunately, found a sort of muted pinkish one.

But what about jewellery?  Oops best go find the wedding and engagement rings then, if only I  could remember where I'd put them.  Took me nearly half an hour to find them but, in my search, I also found a bracelet, a necklace and some earrings.  So now, no one can say I am knowingly underdressed!

What a performance............but what truly stupefies me is remembering that I used to dress like that every single day for work!  Not only that, I wouldn't walk round to the corner shop for the papers without at least putting on some lippy and combing my hair.

As for my hair...........best not go there, you don't really want me to describe it, do you?

Anyone can identify with all this palaver and how living in the French countryside makes you completely oblivious to what a frightful sight you must appear to others?[:D]

[/quote]

Yes....sounds good and is the sort of thing I might wear, but what did your wife wear?[:D]

[Hoddy]

You forgot to mention the heels ! I always wore a high heel; now I can't walk in them. They are the only thing I really miss as I rather liked the cloppy noise they made.

Hoddy

[mint]

Oh Hoddy, how I identify with the cloppy noise.........especially on concrete floors.  They always sound suitably "dominatrice"!!

I put on first of all my high-heeled black boots (no, not with whip in hand) but they were soooo uncomfortable.  Then I tried on my best pair of sling-backs but the bunions must have grown because they were also uncomfortable.

Eventually, I found a pair of ancient Gabor black extra wide court shoes with heels and they served the purpose.  Mind you, I didn't stay on my feet too long.  Soon found a chair to sit on and took the weight off my feet [:D]

[Pierre ZFP]

This is begining to sound like 'The Good Life'

You know the one  -   'The last Posh Frock'

[Patf]

I know what you mean SW17 - my "best" clothes are à la mode 1990s.

But it doesn't matter really, because even shopping in Mirande all the local ladies are even more old-fashioned.

Footwear is a big problem - there are some pretty shoes here but they are very expensive.

[Renaud]

Sweets - you only need to worry when your hair goes a strange shade of maroon.

[5-element]

Renaud - you must mean aubergine colour....

Sweet and Patf - yes footwear is a problem. I only like wearing trainers or walking boots these days, or my wonderful Birkenstock at home. :-) I still remember mincing around in stilettoes too, then Doc Martens spoilt it all....

Decathlon has become my favourite boutique....

[mint]

Didn't know that any sort of colour hair other than blue rinse is socially acceptable?

Anyway, with all the quincaillerie, I felt that I was as glittering as any Christmas tree!  Wish I could say that my conversation was as scintillating...........but, what with trying out some of the slang words I'd learned from our own 5-e, not to mention the ones I'd learned from Fabien Marceau's rhymes, I dare say I must have drawn quite a bit of attention to myself (but not for any of the right reasons!)[:$]

[Renaud]

Sweets - Aubergine is socially acceptable for Super U shoppers.

5 Element, the kind of trainers that marathon runners use are both the ugliest and the most supportive and comfortable shoes that you can get.

So, you know that the guy hanging out in Super U with horrible looking footwear is me.

[mint]

[quote user="Renaud"]Sweets - Aubergine is socially acceptable for Super U shoppers. 5 Element, the kind of trainers that marathon runners use are both the ugliest and the most supportive and comfortable shoes that you can get. So, you know that the guy hanging out in Super U with horrible looking footwear is me.[/quote]

Renaud, you forgot the aubergine hair so your last sentence should have read:  the guy hanging out in Super U with horrible looking footwear AND AUBERGINE HAIR is me![:D]

[Renaud]

Well, the last time I was in, I had just re-weatherproofed the swings and high-up play hut, so the hair was more blotchy chestnut, as was my skin.

[mint]

Careful what you say, Renaud.  You might just be starting a fashion trend?

[EmilyA]

I get my eyelashes dyed as I have never worked out how to put mascara on when wearing my glasses (and I can't see what I am doing without!).

regards

Em

[Gluestick]

Sweets:

Great you have adapted to reality: rather than follow like a Lemming the imposted cultural frippances dictated by rag traders and cosmtetics companies.

In UK I have a wardrobe groaning with smart business suits; expensive shirts, a rack of silk ties; leather shoes; and jackets!

Loads of the damned things.

In my wardrobe in la belle I keep one tailored jacket, not a tie in sight, mainly sports type shirts and one whit and one blue (Old) business shirts; which I never wear.

Once, yes just once in ten years, both Mrs Gluey and I took over formal business suits, black oxford shoes, I had a really good shirt and a tie.

Mainly 'cos we had a contentious business meeting with a Géometrique and decided to make an impression. Which worked.

Last year, one of my dearest friends passed away: and Mrs G and I most fortunately were in France for the funeral. she was OK: black pumps, black trousers, black top and had a large black shawl she keeps there for colder evenings. Bought some black tights.

Now, could I find a black tie in our local swede bashing Canton town? Could I hell!

So it was my only jacket: large soft multi-hued sports checks: an open necked shirt; grey slacks; and sort of slip-on brown soft leather shoes with trainer-type soles!

I shouldn't have worried: most of the local congregation were fairly similar!

In UK I'd have been so out of place and totally mortified; and wincing with self-consciousness.

Make up?

Mainly re-processed pig's fat seeded with colours............

In la belle, since we are in the heart of an arable farming area with quite a few cows, I accept that tractors leave mud all over the roads: and cows leave pats: and that my trouser bottoms are muddy: as are my shoes.

As Alfred Lord Tennyson might have writ:

Cows to the left of us: cows to the right of us: cows to the front of us!

On the slick mudsters!

Our neighbours.

[IMG]http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq332/PercyPee/Picture%20Delights/PicsMay08017.jpg[/IMG]

[Judith]

[quote user="Hoddy"]You forgot to mention the heels ! I always wore a high heel; now I can't walk in them. They are the only thing I really miss as I rather liked the cloppy noise they made.

Hoddy[/quote]

I miss high heels too - but with arthritis in the feet and bad hips/ back (too much ballet dancing when young), I wear flatties almost always - but they don't always look right with skirts / dresses, so I do have a few elegant low heeled shoes, which I cannot walk far in or stand it for long, so only OK for dinners etc.  But I do find the heels very dangerous on the tiled floors and I don't like the noise they make ....unlike Hoddy.  That might be why my "look" is now so countrified ........

[5-element]

Flat shoes can look really sexy with dressy, elegant outfits - in a demure, understated kind of way.

[Chancer]

As can be seen with Carla Bruni.

[5-element]

Yes, her, Princess Di, Francoise Hardy, Catherine Deneuve and plenty of others.

[mint]

Oh, I looked demure enough 5-e...........to the point of frumpishness, no doubt.

It was the rebeu and argot that you taught me that spiced things up a bit!

[5-element]

Way to go, Sweet, way to go...LOL

[Judith]

[quote user="5-element"]Flat shoes can look really sexy with dressy, elegant outfits - in a demure, understated kind of way.[/quote]Not the sort of flat shoes I have to wear - court shoes are not on for me, with orthotics in them I walk out of court shoes ..... no it is the lace-up, heavy duty stuff I tend to have to wear - even sandals are a problem as they need a back in them (to hold the orthotics in) and when did you find an elegant sandal with backs in them ??